Step or platform register



(N0 Model.)

D. L. TOWER.

STEP OR PLATFORM REGISTER;

No. 244,689. Patented July 19,1881.v

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL L. TOWER, OF BROOKLYN, NEYV YORK.

STEP OR PLATFORM REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 244,689, dated July 19, 1881.

Application filed May 21, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL L, TOWER, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Registers for Counting the Number of Persons Passing one Place, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is made for counting the number of persons passing one place in one direction, and for preventing the counting when passing in the other direction. Thereby the passengers entering a car will be counted, but no count is made when they leave. The attendants passing into a place of amusement can be counted, but no count will be made as they come out. I employ three platforms, over which the person walks. The first moves a sleeve endwise, the second gives a partial rotation to the sleeve and the shaft with which it is connected, and this brings a range of pawls into position to actupon countin g-wheels, and the third platform is made in sections that act upon the pawls and turn the countingwheels. If a person is going the other way and first steps upon the third platform the counting-wheels are not turned, because the pawls are out of contact with them, and the second platform is inoperative to move the pawls into contact with the counting-wheels, because the first platform has not first been operated to set it, and said first platform, when stepped upon by the person leaving the second plat form, cannot set the sleeve so as to be operated by the second platform, because the second platform when "stepped on moves the sleeve out of the path of the device that is operated By this means the persons passing in one direction are registered,

but those going the other way do not affect the register.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of the platforms. Fig. 2 is a rear View of the pawls. Fig. 3 is a section transversely through the counters; and Fig. 4 is an elevation of the connectin g devices, the rocking shaft being in section at the line a" 00.

The platforms A B O are arranged in relation to the entrance so that the person steps first on A, then on B, and lastly on O, and in so doing he or she is obliged to pass around a division or fence (shown by the dotted lines at D) that is placed between the platforms A and (No model.)

0, and such fence is hollow, or otherwise made so as to receive the counting apparatus; or these platforms A B C may be arranged in a straight or irregular line, as may be found preferable. The platform A is hinged at 2, and its moving edge is connected, by a wire, rod, or strap, 5, with the endwise pusher I), which is in the form of a rod, sliding vertically in the bearing3 and raised by aspring, c. This spring a may be sufficient also to lift the platform,but usually there will also be a spring, 0, beneath the platform, as shown in Fig. 6. The lower end of the endwise pusher I) has an incline that is adjacent to an arm, 4, that projects at one side of a sleeve, 6, upon the rock-shaft i. This sleeve 0 slides freely on a feather on the shaft, and there are springs 6 and 7 at opposite sides of the sleeve to tend to keep it in a central position. If the platform A is stepped upon, the drawing down of the endwise pusher 1) moves the sleeve endwise by its arm at being acted upon by the incline at the lower end of this pusher, and in so doing a second arm, 8, is brought beneath the oscillator-slide h, which slide is similar to the pusher b, but it is connected by a cord or wire, 9, to the second platform, B, so that when this second platform is stepped upon the lower end of the oscillatorslide h, acting upon the arm 8, gives the rockshat't a partial turn, and in so doing carries the frame 70, with the slides Z and pawls a, bodily up toward the row of counting-wheels m, in order that the counting-wheels may be turned by the pawls as the third platform, 0, is stepped upon, as hereinafter described.

It will now be understood that the frame It and pawls a, in their normal condition, stand away from the counting-wheels in the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, and that the counting-wheels will not be operated unless the pawls are first swung up adjacent to the counting-wheels, as shown by full lines in Fig.

3; and, furthermore, that when the persons are going out, the platform 0 being first stepped upon,the counters are not turned,because the pawls are away from them, and when the platform B is stepped upon it cannot turn the shaft i and swing the pawls up to place, because the projection 8 on the sleeve 0 has not been brought into the path of the oscillator slide h, and, as a further precaution, the descent of the slide it, as the platform B is stepped upon,

forces the sleevee endwise of the shafti by the action of the incline h, and thereby removes the pin 4- from beneath the pusher-slide b, in order that when the platform A is stepped upon said pusher-slide may descend without touching the arm 4, as illustrated in Fig. 5. In the normal position the slides h and b are elevated entirely above the arms 4 and 8, and the sleeve 0 and arms are held in a central position by the springs. The arm 8 in thisposition is beneath the incline at the lower end of 7b, and the arm 4 is beneath theincline at thelower end of b; hence if the slide it should be first depressed its incline would move the sleeve 0 and arms 8 and 4linto the position shown in Fig. 5 without rocking the shaft and pawl-carrier, and when the slide 1) is brought down it will not touch the arm at. If the slide 1) is moved first, as is intended, the incline of bmoves the sleeve 0 sufficiently to cause the shoulder or offset upon hto act against 8 and swing the pawl-carrier and parts, as aforesaid, when the slide h is depressed.

There are, by preference, ten countin g-wheels, m, on one shaft, m, and the shaft is moved one tooth by the action of either wheel. There are also ten sliding pawl-carriers, 1, each with a spring, I, to raise it, and each pawl-carrier is connected with one bar in the platform 0, as illustrated in Fig. 1, said platform being composed of numerous bars; hence when either baris stepped upon the countwheels are turned one tooth; and in order to carry down all the pawls and slides at the same time, if the first few are stepped upon, I employ the lugs 15 16, overhanging each other, so that the depression of the first of the series will carry down all of the others, but the depression of any other one farther along in the series only carries down those beyond it. This prevents the register being moved more than one tooth, even by two short steps upon the platform, and it also causes a registration if a second person steps on the cross-bars of the platform C that are nearest to the platform B before the preceding person passes off the platform 0, thus preventin g erroneous registration, for it will be seen that all the bars of the platform 0 that are nearer to the platform B than the one that is depressed will be elevated and in place ready to be operative in turning the count-wheels.

The overlapping device, consisting of the lugs 15 and 16 on the sliding pawl-carrier I, might be upon the sections of the platform 0, instead of upon said pawl-carriers.

The usual counting-wheels for hundreds, thousands, &c., are to be added to the countwheels m.

By having the platforms and the inclosures at the sides of such platforms arranged in the manner shown, or any similar manner, persons passing through have to move first in one direction and then in another direction, and crowding and rushing are prevented.

I am aware that in counters or registers heretofore made two platforms have been 0011- nected in such a manner that one brought into action the mechanism between the second and the register. This arrangement does not prevent a false registration being made when first one foot is pressed on one platform and then the other on the other platform several times. By the use of three platforms this is prevented, because the three platforms could not be pressed upon several times in succession without taking several steps and moving from one place to another in so doing.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination, in a registering apparatus, of three platforms, registering mechanism operated when the three platforms are depressed in succession, and a tortuous inclosure, within which the platforms are arranged, so that a person has to move in different directions in passing over them, for the purposes and substantially as specified.

2. The combination of the platforms B and O, counting mechanism operated by the platform C, and mechanism operated by the plat form B to move the pawls of the counting mechanism into and out of action, substantiallyas set forth.

3. The sliding sleeve upon the shaft '17, the rock-shaft i, and framecarrying the pawls, the counting-wheels,the oscillator It, and the pusher I), operated by the platforms A and B respectively, substantially as set forth.

4. The platform 0, composed of bars, in combination with the count-wheels, the sliding carriers, pawls, and connections, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. In a registering apparatus, the pawl-carriersl, fitted to slide in a rocking frame, 7., and provided with an overlapping device consisting of the lugs or projections 15 16 on said carriers, substantially as set forth.

6. In a registering apparatus, the platform 0, made in sections and connected to the pawlcarriers Z, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

7. In a registering apparatus, the combination of a sectional platform and of an overlapping device, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

Signed by me this 19th day of May, A. D. 1880.

DANL. L. TOWER.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM G. Mora, HAROLD SERRELL. 

